Introduction and Chapter 1
Study Guide by James R. Martin, Ph.D., CMA
Professor Emeritus, University of South Florida
Political Issues Main Page
Note: The author of Anonymous is Miles Taylor. He was chief of staff to Department Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Taylor revealed this in a statement to CNN on October 28, 2020. Taylor's statement reads as follows: "Issuing my critiques without attribution forced the President to answer them directly on their merits or not at all, rather than creating distractions through petty insults and name-calling."
The purpose of this book is to provide an unvarnished assessment of Donald Trump and his presidency based on the author's observations and experience. The author challenges Republicans to read this book.
Introduction
Historians will write that Trump's advisors found him unfit for the job, a man who could not focus on governing, who was prone to abuses of power, particularly ill conceived schemes designed to punish his political rivals and to undermine our fundamental American institutions. They will also document how administrative officials considered resigning en masse to call attention to Trump's misconduct and erratic leadership.
The author's last straw was Trump's vindictive behavior when John McCain died. Trump used his office to limit the nation's recognition of John McCain's legacy, e.g., his opposition to lowering the flag on government buildings. This episode triggered the author's opinion piece in the New York Times on September 5, 2018. Since that time the instability of the Trump administration has intensified making it even more obvious that Donald Trump lacks the basic qualities of leadership required to perform the duties of his office. Although administrative officials supported the main components of the president's agenda, they were alarmed by his unstable behavior and tried to steer him away from his self-destructive impulses. The author refers to this group as the "Steady State." Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Report on the Investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential Election states that "The President's efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests." This included the president's demand that Don McGahn (the president's counsel) fire the special council.
If Donald Trump is reelected he will feel emboldened to double down on his worst impulses. The author wrote this book with the hope that Trump supporters would recognize that something is not right about this presidency. Donald Trump's behavior is not tolerable, and is often embarrassing. Republicans cannot continue to ignore what they do not want to see. They have made excuses (he's got a different style, or the other side is worse, the media is against him), but they have been blinded to the ugly truth. Through a toxic combination of amorality and indifference, the president has failed to fulfill the duties of his office.
The book was published anonymously so the reader would focus on the message, not the messenger. The book is not about the author. Its about how we want the presidency to reflect our country. Donald Trump often conflates personal criticism with a national security threat. He revoked the security clearances of former intelligence officials who disagreed with him. He referred to the whistleblower as "close to a spy" implying that the person who reported the president's inappropriate behavior should be hanged. But no one owes the president their silence. We all owe him the truth. In the time that remains until we make our decision, we as a nation must consider the implications of reelecting Donald Trump.
Chapter 1: Collapse of the Steady State
This chapter begins with a discussion of Trump's reckless decision in December 2018 to tweet that "We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency." It was a self-inflicted crisis. Administration officials had been testifying under oath that ISIS was not yet eliminated. The department of defense and US. allies were in the dark. The president had made poor decisions before, but this was different. The president was falsely declaring that ISIS was finished because he had decided it was true. It was a watershed moment, not just because it "rattled the world" as Lindsey Graham told reporters, but because it signaled the collapse of administrative official's ability to bring order to the Trump administration's chaos. The day after Trump's Syria tweets, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis announced his resignation. Shortly after the Mattis announcement Trump decided in a temper tantrum to move Mattis's departure date forward, and Trump bragged that he had fired the decorated Marine general. There was a loose group of pragmatists in the Trump administration that thought the situation was manageable (the "Steady State"). They were wrong.
State of Chaos
Few people in the incoming Trump administration (including the candidate) expected Trump to win the election. The inexperienced transition team was not ready. New Jersey governor Chris Christie was head of the team, but Trump suddenly decided to sack Christie and make Vice-President Pence the new chair. There were rival teams including the Kushner camp, the Bannon camp, the Conway camp, Penceland, and the Flynn-stones. But in spite of the disunity, the process produced a White House team and a cabinet more competent than critics reported. Many were outsiders that were not familiar with Trump's inner circle of flattery and deception. They were optimistic, but this evaporated when their first encounter with the president-elect showed he was focused on his win rather than on the forthcoming task of governing. He was more interested in showing everyone the electoral maps he carried around to celebrate his victory. Trump's turbulent demeanor and off-the-wall comments like his fixation with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were troubling. He complained about what he claimed were millions of people who deprived him of the popular vote by voting illegally. His assertion was clearly false and no one could believe he continued to promote it. The joke was that the president was off his rocker, but it wasn't really a joke.
Trump began with a rapid-fire barrage of executive orders to undo Obama administration policies. Some backfired like the president's travel ban on citizens from what he believed to be terrorist countries. He put his political strategist Steve Bannnon on the National Security Council, an organization that is typically reserved for top agency heads, not media advisors. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of National Intelligence were essentially demoted, although Trump reversed the order a few months later. Internal concerns about Trump's behavior increased. This was not the way things were supposed to work.
"He's About to Do Something"
The "Steady State" was formed to keep the wheels from coming off the White House wagon, not to undercut the president. The administration's problems were systemic and they emanated from the top. The process of briefing the president provides a good example. Before a conversation with the president it is important to make sure your points are lined up and your agenda is ready to present. But Trump does not want lengthy documents. He will not read them. He prefers PowerPoint illustrations, but not very many. At first, three main points were acceptable. Later this changed to one main point because the president could not focus on more than one thing in the course of a meeting. Briefers who did not listen paid the price. The president would shout, "What the fuck is this? These are just words." As a result documents were dramatically downsized, and position papers became sound bites. Trump preferred a single graphic. The members of the Steady State had become glorified government babysitters.
Trump's tendency for making major decisions with little forethought or discussion was alarming. Typically, the president sees something on television he doesn't like and he thinks he should do something , like fire someone or pull out of a treaty. He tweets about it and bounces it off the next aide he talks to, who is stunned about the idea and finds the president disinterested in thinking through the consequences. The alarm goes out that he is about to do something. After an intervention he backs off temporarily, but refuses to admit he was wrong. These mini-crises have become the norm. To reduce the crises, aides have encouraged the president to hold more campaign rallies. This gives him something fun to do, and gets him out of town where he might do less damage. But his cyclical urges can't be suppressed for long.
The Broken Branch
In recent history the decision process of the White House was quite different. Decisions were made after careful consideration and carried out with a step-by-step plan. Partners at other levels of government were rarely caught off guard, and information was properly vetted and fact-checked. Family members were kept at a safe distance, or had clearly defined roles. This is clearly not how the Trump administration works. The president has never learned how to manage the government's day-to-day functions, and has indicated no interest in learning how the executive branch is supposed to work. He tells the secretary of defense to do something that is the responsibility of the secretary of state. Sometimes he tells his son-in-law to do things that are the responsibility of government officials. The problem is that unclear and unhealthy lanes of authority persist and policies are rarely coordinated or thoroughly considered.
Some have argued that the Trump administration's management through chaos is an asset. To Stephen Miller, a senior advisor to the president and early campaign, chaos is a deliberate governing strategy. It's essentially General Patton's idea of keeping everyone guessing. But the argument doesn't have much merit because the president has not displayed any sense that he knows what he is doing. The result is that department and agency heads have insulated their operations from Trump's whims by creating separate discussion forums outside the White House.
Putting Out Fires
Trump's advisors agreed that the president makes three kinds of request:
Those that are flat-out stupid,
Those that would be impossible to implement and wouldn't solve the problem if they were, and
Those that would be flat-out illegal.
An example of a request in the first category was Trump's idea to shut down the government because he was unhappy with congressional budget negotiations. He tweeted that the government needed a "good shutdown." The president could do this with a veto of the legislation, but it would be a political loser because Federal employees would not get paid, and essential services would stop abruptly. The staff explained the possible adverse political consequences and the president reluctantly agreed not to pursue the idea.
In the second category the president suggested to aides that all American teachers should carry weapons to fight back against gun violence in the nation's schools. He thought it was brilliant because he thought of it, but his advisors explained that it was wildly impractical and could not be implemented. Trump changed it to 20 percent of teachers and took the idea public anyway. The idea was dropped because no one else took it seriously.
Examples in the third category arise because the president doesn't understand the federal law. Trump has repeatedly tried to cut off aid to foreign countries not knowing he can't cut funds Congress had already approved. In other cases he would use funds as bargaining chips. The case where money was earmarked by Congress to go to the Ukraine is a good example (We now know withholding money from the Ukraine for a political favor, and then obstructing the investigation by Congress is what got Trump impeached). Trump also attempts to pick a favorite contractor for Pentagon purchases forgetting that purchases must be advertised and bid competitively with rigorous selection criteria. Other presidential orders in this category involve immigration. In Trump's mind almost any issue or problem can be tied to immigration. One of his ideas was to label migrants as "enemy combatants." Trump wanted to ship migrants to Guantanamo Bay where hardened terrorist were jailed. One State Department official called the idea "completely batshit." Advisors argued that the idea was wildly impractical and too expensive. More importantly, the policy was insane and outright illegal.
Dismantling the Guardrails
Donald Trump relishes his image as a tough boss. Officials are perpetually waiting for an assassination tweet to come. They refer to it as a "deathwatch." Trump's view of loyalty is self-serving to the extreme. No one is immune from the ax, but Trump doesn't fire people directly. He does it by tweet or gets someone else to do it. Examples include how he removed Reince Priebus with a tweet that John Kelly was the new White House chief of staff. Then Trump had Kelly fire Anthony Scaramucci, the White House communications director.
After John Kelly was named White House chief of staff Trump began to allow Kelly to manage the process. Kelly tried to curb the president's spontaneous directives. Afghanistan provides a prime example. Trump wanted to pull out of Afghanistan but security officials persuaded him to wait until they could develop options. The president agreed to a more thoughtful strategy rather than an immediate withdrawal. But the new sense of order didn't last and the Steady State recognized that Trump's behavior couldn't be moderated.
As Trump's impulsive ideas continued, senior advisors and cabinet-level officials pondered a mass resignation to draw the public's attention to the president's faltering administration. But the idea was deemed too risky because it would further destabilize an already unstable government. But the situation got worse and vacancies in these positions increased anyway. Economic advisor Gary Cohn resigned. The president fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. This was followed by the departure of the national security advisor H. R. McMaster, Tom Bossert, the homeland security advisor, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Jim Mattis, John Kelly, and John Bolton. Trump's children or random Fox News hosts are essentially his chiefs of staff. Everyone is the chief of staff but the chief of staff. Increasingly the voices Trump listens to are people who tell him what he wants to hear. Trump is a classic example of confirmation bias - the tendency to search for information that fits with one's preexisting beliefs.
The final point in this chapter is that administration officials are not hired to keep the president in check. Instead, the president is accountable to the voters and their elected representatives. Their faith in the executive branch should reflect their faith in the president alone, and that leads us to the next chapter. Who is Donald Trump?
_______________________________________
Go to the next Chapter. Chapter 2: The Character of a Man. (Summary).
Related summaries:
Hornsey, M. J. and K. S. Fielding. 2017. Attitude roots and Jiu Jitsu persuasion: Understanding and overcoming the motivated rejection of science. American Psychologist 72(5): 459-473. (Summary).
Martin, J. R. Not dated. Policies of a Second Trump Presidency.
Martin, J. R. Not dated. Summary of Trump's Seven Part Plan to Overturn the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election.
Martin, J. R. Not dated. Summary of what Trump is and what he is not.
Martin, J. R. Not dated. Why I vote for Democrats.
Unger, C. 2018. House of Trump, House of Putin: The Untold Story of Donald Trump and the Russian Mafia. Dutton. (Note).
